Britain floats new Iraqi demands in diplomatic endgame

10.00 am

UNITED NATIONS - Britain has set out tough new conditions for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to avoid war in an effort to win United Nations support, but the United States says the time for diplomacy has almost run out.

The White House welcomed but did not endorse the new British proposals, which were seen as a final attempt to break the UN Security Council stalemate on a resolution authorising war if Saddam did not fully satisfy their disarmament demands within days.

With nine votes needed for a majority and a vote expected by the end of the week, the new British proposals were aimed at winning over six uncommitted nations on the 15-member Security Council. None of them officially reacted to the latest ideas.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "We are indeed in the final stages of diplomacy and in these final stages the President George W Bush has gone the extra mile.

"That extra mile will come to an end and the time for diplomacy will come to an end. And the only question that will remain is, has Saddam Hussein disarmed," he said.

Bush has vowed to go to war with or without UN backing and there are around 250,000 US and British troops poised to invade Iraq.

However, abandoning attempts to get the approval of the world body would carry a heavy price, especially for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose political future is at stake.

An amended resolution, which may be formally presented to Security Council members on Wednesday, still seemed certain to be vetoed by France, Russia and possibly China. The United States and Britain hope for a vote on Friday, diplomats said.

Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, whose government supports the resolution, said the sponsors were considering not presenting it for a vote because France was sure to veto it.

British officials said they wanted to present the conditions -- which include a demand that Saddam appear on television and pledge to give up weapons of mass destruction -- as a side statement but not an integral part of a fresh resolution. The deadline for Iraq to comply may be moved from March 17 to March 21 or March 24, diplomats said.

Among uncommitted members on the Security Council, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos he was losing hope of a diplomatic solution and "frustrated" with the impasse on the council.

The other uncommitted nations are: Mexico, Pakistan, Angola, Cameroon and Guinea. In favour of the resolution are the United States, Britain, Spain and Bulgaria. Against are Russia, China, France, Germany and Syria. A 'no' vote from any of the first three would automatically kill the resolution.

Some US sources said there were signs that the three African nations were leaning their way after intense lobbying by Bush and other top US officials.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "I wouldn't deny that we are making progress but I wouldn't want to mislead you that we've got it in the bag."

In another sign of the intense diplomatic pressure Washington was bringing to bear, the US ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow, warned Moscow to think twice about the consequences of using its UN veto.

"Russia should carefully weigh all the consequences," he told Russia's Izvestia newspaper.

Diplomats thought the list of British conditions would be next to impossible for Saddam to accept without fatally weakening the basis of his power.

They included demands that Iraq should allow 30 of its scientists to be interviewed outside the country; surrender stocks of anthrax and other biological and chemical agents or produce documents to prove they were destroyed; destroy banned missiles; account for unmanned aerial vehicles; promise to hand over all mobile biological weapons laboratories for destruction.

In a sign of war nerves, a UN force monitoring the Iraq-Kuwait border said it was "temporarily" removing some observers from parts of the demilitarised zone.

There were also signs of strain between Britain and the United States after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested Washington was ready to go it alone without the support of troops from Britain if necessary.

Britain said it would fight. "If action is necessary, there will be a significant part played by British troops," said a spokesman for Blair, who brushed aside lawmakers' calls for him to save his political career by accepting a non-combat role for British forces.

- REUTERS